Trematoporidae

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Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part G (1953)

• Zoaria ramose, hemispherical, or massive; characterized by general looseness and obscurity of structure, unlike other trepostomes. Distinguished from Halloporidae chiefly by presence of acanthopores and closed mesopores.

Bassler (1911):

• Zoria incrusting, ramose or massive. Zooecial tubes thin and irregular in the axial region, usually constricted where diaphragms are inserted. Walls thickened in the mature region, with a distinct divisional line where the zooecia are in contact. Acanthopores more or less abundant; mesopores often abundant and of large size, their apertures closed.
• Compared with Halloporidae this family differs most obviously in having closed mesopores and “beaded” zooecial tubes caused by the constriction of the walls when a diaphragm is inserted. With the emendation of the Halloporidae to include a species with a slight development of acanthopores, the most noticeable distinction between the two families—the presence of the structures in one and not in the other—is less marked although still of value. As a rule, the Trematoporidae have a general looseness and slight obscurity of structure quite unlike that of any other family. For example, the walls are not as clear and distinct as in the Amplexoporidae or Halloporidae, the acanthopores have a less definite, clear-cut structure, and the walls are often undulating. It is difficult to describe this “trematoporoid” structure, although it is usually recognized without difficulty after one has learned it from experience.
• The specific and generic representation of the Trematoporidae is the largest of the Trepostomata. All of the American genera save one are represented, and, with further search, this exception, Stromatotrypa, will probably also be found common to both continents. The unusually large specific development of Hemiphragma in European strata is an interesting feature brought out to by the present studies and indicates most decidedly the value of the semidiaphragms as a generic character.

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